


Shabbat Shalom

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Series: Friends Make Life A Lot More Fun [22]
Category: Rent - Larson
Genre: Canon Jewish Character, F/M, Family, Gen, Siblings, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 15:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10192970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: They time has come for Mark to meet the parents... Riley's parents that is.September 1992





	

"Oh hi, glad you could come. Oh my god, Ari?"

Riley gave a small wave, the other hand fidgeting with the long cuff of the dress she was wearing.

A smile broke out across her sister's face, "You came! You're actually here! Rami!" She hollered back into the apartment.

Mark stood awkwardly by Riley's side, shuffling from one foot to another.

"He'd better get his butt out here," Tali muttered, "Rami!"

Riley was so nervous standing there, it was beyond the point of no return.

"Well come on in," Tali gestured for them to enter, "you brought a guy with you. Oh, even someone it looks like Ima might approve of!"

"Tali!" Riley finally managed to get out.

Tali paused, really looking at Riley for the first time. "Ari," she said softly, "I missed you."

Riley let out a deep sigh, she could almost feel tears in the corners of her eyes, "I missed you too."

"Tali, what's all this racket about?"

"Rami?" Riley whispered. She knew that Rami had become Orthodox, but he looked so different with the black hat and curls hanging from his temples.

 

Rami was giving her a once over as well, "Ari? No," He began to smile, "well guess the little one finally decided to show up."

Riley stood awkwardly fire a moment, "Can I...are we allowed to hug?"

In response to her question Rami swept her into a bone crushing bear hug, just like the ones she remembered, "Can't breath..." Riley hissed.

"Don't care," Rami muttered back, squeezing her even tighter. “This is what you get for pulling a disappearing act on me," he added before finally loosening his hold on her.

Riley inhaled deeply and straightened out her dress.

"Rami you haven't even noticed the best part," Tali spoke in a sing-song tone, "she brought a guy with her!" she nodded in Mark's direction.

All the attention suddenly on him, Mark had to work hard to keep his blush down, but he managed it. "Mark Cohen, nice to meet you."

Rami's face had an almost stony appearance now, Riley hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid. He was always the overprotective older brother, didn't like it when guys tried to date either her or Tali and usually did a pretty good job of scaring them off.

Mark was used to the tough guy front, Roger put it on all the time, and he met Rami's gaze squarely, if slightly nervously.

"Nice to meet you Mark," Rami began still not breaking eye contact, "how did you meet my sister?"

Riley's heart beat fast, what was he going to tell them? About her being a street vendor, or about being evicted? Either way the circumstances weren't good.

"It was a lucky chance, really," Mark said with a smile, "my childhood friend Roger and I share a loft in the East Village. Roger's girlfriend lives in the apartment below ours and was looking for a roommate. I don't know the whole story, but Riley ended up moving in there," his smile widened, "she's really become an integral part of our friend group."

"I see," Rami replied incredulously.

"Oh Ramikins, chill out!" Tali groaned, "let them join the rest of the party!"

Riley smiled gratefully at her sister and began to follow her inside. She almost took Mark's hand out of habit before she remembered Orthodox traditions.

Once they joined the rest of the people who were there, Tali quickly went to seek out their parents, "Ima, Aba! Look who is here!"

The look on Riley's parents faces when they saw her could have melted the hardest heart.

"Ariella," Her mother approached her.

"Shalom, Ima," Riley replied, she looked to see her father standing there as well and hesitated before throwing her arms around him. She had always been her daddy's little girl and even after all this time it was as if nothing had changed.

Her father let out a joyous laugh, spinning her around, "Ariella, my little Ariyeh!"

She felt like they could stay that way forever, pretend that the last few years hadn't happened, but she would lose all the good too. She let go of her father, "Um, this is my," She looked back at Mark, "this is my boyfriend Mark," Riley felt a blush creeping across her face.

"Hi," Mark held out his hand to Riley's father, "Er, I mean, hello sir. Mark Cohen."

Riley's father eyed him critically, shaking his hand firmly. "Pleasure to meet you, Mark."

Mark simply nodded his head in response, "Well it seems you've already met Tali and Rami, this is my wife Chaya."

Chaya surprised Mark by shaking his hand as well. Based on the fact that Rami was obviously Orthodox, he had assumed that Riley's parents would also be Orthodox.

"It is nice to meet you Mark," Chaya smiled.

"So," she continued, "Cohen. You're Jewish then." Her accent was obviously Israeli, although it had been diluted by her years in America.

"Yes, ma'am," Mark answered politely, "My family lives in Scarsdale."

"You have to excuse me, I don't know New York very well..." Chaya laughed, "where is Scarsdale?"

Mark smiled, "It's outside of New York City. It's kind of a suburb of the city itself, but people usually call it it's own town."

"Ah, I see," Chaya nodded, "and you live in the city now?"

"Yes, in the East Village," Mark replied. The parental third degree, he should have seen this coming. "I was just telling your husband. My friend Roger and I live in a top floor loft," continued Mark, "Riley and Roger's girlfriend Mimi live in the apartment below us."

"And what do you do?" Chaya asked.

"Uh,” Mark ran his hand through his hair, "I work for this news show called Buzzline," although the term "news show" should be taken with a grain of salt, "But on the side, I'm working on a project of my own. A film. It doesn't really have a story yet."

"Oh so you make films?" Riley's father cut in, "an artist?"

"I guess you could say that," Mark shrugged.

"There's a whole community of us in the same area," he explained, "Roger is a musician and Mimi dances. Our friend Collins is the odd one out, he's a philosopher."

"I see, so Ari where do you fit into all this?" Her father turned to her.

"I uh," Riley stammered, "well I," she was kind of in between things at this point still searching for a new job and all.

"She joins Roger sometimes," Mark filled in, "they play duets for guitar and violin." This was more or less true. Roger had invited Riley on stage once and they had both enjoyed it.

"Still keeping up the violin? Very good," Chaya smiled.

Riley smiled, first at Mark for his quick thinking then at her mother, "Yes, Ima."

Chaya turned to Mark, "She was always so good on the violin, even as a child."

"She must have been, because she's amazing now." Riley blushed and Chaya laughed, "I like this one, he reminds me of you, Eric," she continued, smiling at her husband, still so obviously in love.

Rami came back over to them, "Well I think it's time for us to sit down to dinner."

"Ari," Eric put his hand on her shoulder, "you should go sit with Bubbe and Zaidey, I know they will be more than thrilled that you are here.”

"And I'm sure that Bubbe would want to meet this nice boy you brought with you," Chaya added. It hadn't even crossed Riley's mind that her grandparents would be here for Rami's wedding.

"Oh," Riley said faintly, "The whole family is here?"

Mark pointedly avoided Eric's gaze. He was definitely not ready to get married anytime soon.

Having experienced his own extended family in Israel, Mark was not surprised by the hubbub of voices that greeted them when Chaya and Eric lead the way into the dining room.

"Sorry about all that," Riley whispered as they were led to two open seats across from an older couple.

Mark smiled at her and bumped her hand accidentally on purpose, "I like them."

Riley let out but smiled as she sat down, alright so this evening wasn't going to be as bad as she thought it might be.

Mark was immediately drawn into conversation by someone Riley didn't recognize, who must have been on the bride's side.

"Hi Bubbe," Riley turned to the older woman.

"Ariella," her grandmother crooned, cupping her face fondly, "Look at how much you've grown."

Riley began to question the reason she had run away from the first place. Wel,l she had wanted to turn around halfway across Pennsylvania but it was too late at that point. Being alone for so long she was glad to have found a sort of family with her fellow bohemian artists but it wasn't the same. It wasn't that she didn't love her family, she loved them very much, but the desire to separate from them, to live her own life instead of the life they wanted, had been a necessary adjustment.

"You've been away too long!" Her grandmother scolded but her tone was friendly, "are you in New York too?"

"Yes," Riley nodded, she looked older then when she had last seen her but she definitely was ageing with grace.

"Such a wonderful city," her grandmother sighed, "I went there once as a little girl. One of the most life changing experiences I have ever had. If I had to describe the City in one word, it would be life-changing."

Riley smiled. She had chosen New York because it was a city of dreams and she thought it would make hers come true, even though she didn't even know what they were at the time. "Yes it is," Riley replied, "it really is."

"I'm so happy that you've met such a nice looking young man," get grandmother replied slyly.

Riley elbowed Mark to get his attention, he turned away from his previous conversation, "What?"

"She's talking about you," Riley whispered to him, "she called you a nice looking man in case you missed it."

Mark looked surprised, like he didn't know that he was attractive, "Oh."

Riley suppressed a laugh, Mark was really oblivious sometimes, even when it came to himself.

"She's right, you know," Riley murmured, "you are attractive. I don't know about the man part, though." Any forthcoming protest was cut off by Eric calling everyone to order. The sun was going down, which meant that it was time to light the Shabbat candles.

Eric turned to his oldest daughter, "Ari, why don't you lead with Tali?" He suggested. 

Riley looked around as if he was addressing someone else named Ari. Tali nudged her to get up and join her and they stood where a set of candlesticks was set up. Riley began to get nervous. Of course she remembered the words, or at least she thought she did, but she was struggling to recall the melody. She hesitated with her mouth opened slightly as Tali began and Riley mumbled until it all came back to her. It had been some time since Mark had been to a real Sabbath dinner, but the words of the prayers were familiar to his ears. As the blessing came to an end Tali turned to her, "Shabbat Shalom," she smiled before hugging her.

Mark couldn't keep the smile off of his face as the rituals continued, taking a sip of wine and a bite of bread when prompted, revelling in the simple act of the rituals he hadn't realized he'd missed.

Then the schmoozing began, it was simple and harmless at first but as the night went on stories slowly were emerging from everyone. Granted, Rami was getting married so they had the right to embarrass him, or talk about his accomplishments. Unfortunately, that meant Riley was a popular topic as well.

"Oh yes I remember!" Rami laughed, "I think Ari was six at the time..."

Riley could feel her face getting red as they continued to discuss her.

Mark couldn't help but grin, even though he knew that Riley would be getting even more embarrassing stories than she got from Roger and Maureen now when she eventually met Mrs. Cohen

"Can we please not talk about that!" Riley whined, "you know I don't remember it going down that way!"

"Of course, you probably repressed the memory," Tali snickered.

"I hate you all," Riley grumbled. Rami and Tali laughed, scarily close to harmonizing.

"Come on Mark, back me up here."

"Sorry," Mark replied with a shrug, "Payback is a...well, it sucks. You get all the stories about me from Roger and Maureen, it's only fair that I get some about you." He smiled and crossed his legs expectantly as Rami and Tali laughed again.

"And who can say no to something as epic as the Spaghetti Incident?" Tali grinned.

Riley wasn't going to stand for this, "Right, have your fun. I still remember the time when you tried to short sheet my bed at camp and you did it to yourself."

Tali gave her a sour look and, after making sure there were no adults watching, Riley stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

"Oh yeah, real mature," Tali rolled her eyes.

"I try," Riley replied with a wink.

"All Jewish families really are the same," Mark laughed.

"Really?" Riley leaned back into her chair, "and here I was thinking I was unique."

"Let's see," Mark mused, "Large extended family, siblings with embarrassing stories, tons of food. Sounds like when I visited my family in Israel."

"Fair enough, except I am way closer to being an Israeli than you ever will be," Riley added.

"Now you're just showing off," Mark laughed.

The last bits of food were eaten and the dishes were waiting in the sink to be washed. As Mark and Riley prepared to head back to the city, Rami took him to the laundry room with a strong grip on his shoulder.

"Ari!" Tali ran up to Riley, "Ari! You really should take me to one of your shows!"

"Oh, they aren't really my shows," Riley replied her eyes drifting towards Mark and her brother.

"I don't care," Tali continued, trying to direct attention away from the other conversation and more or less succeeding. In the other room, Rami gave Mark an appraising look, arms crossed over his chest.

"So," he began.

Mark had no idea what was going on or what to expect with Rami standing there. "Is something wrong?" was all he could think of.

"I don't know," Rami retorted, "is there? With you and my sister?"

Mark blinked a few more times, "Wait, what?"

"She's my sister," Rami explained, "and I worry about her. I've always worried about both of my sisters. I don't mean to sound cliche, but if you hurt my Ari--"

"I won't," Mark opposed. 

Rami raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"I have no reason to hurt her," Mark added, "please believe me."

Rami raised an eyebrow, "Why should I do that?"

"Because I think I might be falling in love." Mark and Rami looked equally surprised at the filmmaker's outburst. It was a sudden realization, but it was true none the less. Mark couldn't believe the words that had come from his mouth, but there it was... He said it... And he meant it as well.

Just outside the room, Riley stood with a shocked expression on her face. Beside her, Tali was covering her mouth with both hands, on the verge of squealing.


End file.
